>>> Mabye it means...... They understand that Icelandics are different from other breeds, that their flight /fight response is different. That usually they do not need to be round penned to death in order to want to do things with you. When stressed they might turn their back to you .... or just freeze. That they do have a different horse evolution from horses the last 1000 years, which, yes makes a difference. Mabye it means these things....who knows.
MAYBE. But I don't think so, just judging from when I've heard people use the word "culture" relating to the horses before. I can't count the number of times that I've been told I MUST go to Iceland to understand my horses. I can't count the number of websites that speak about "Iceland being in the horses" - whatever that means. I can't count the number of US breeder sites that show numerous pictures of the horses in Iceland - especially the USIHC, where at times it seems the majority of pictures on the site were taken in Iceland. I can't count the number of times when I've been told we MUST have "certified trainers from Holar" to work with our horses - just a few months ago, there was an article in Tolt News saying that "natural horsemanship" may work for a few basic training concepts for Icelandics, but when it comes to gait training, you need to get someone who knows the breed. Hooey! Whenever I hear the word "culture" in a paragraph about Icelandic horses, it's invariably referring to the human culture. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that most of the people I've heard use the word "culture" in relation to their horses are the kind of people who've bought trained horses, or have had Icelanders train their horses - in other words, in my personal experience, the people who are most "culture obsessed" probably are some with the least hands-on training experience with their Icelandic horses, and most have precious little (if ANY) experience with other breeds. When people don't train their own horses, and don't have a lot of experience with other breeds of horses, I'm very, very skeptical it means what you said. But, as I said before, I think a GOOD horseman would recognize the traits you mentioned, and would recognize the Icelandics who have those traits, the ones who don't fit the stereotypes, AND would know that NO HORSE needs to be "round penned to death." In other words, why wouldn't someone simply say that they want to sell a horse to a GOOD horseman? Wouldn't that cover it? Karen Thomas, NC -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.4/702 - Release Date: 2/25/2007 3:16 PM
